Higher Ed Round-up is a new section, to bring you a round-up of
national and international higher education news. Articles are
reprinted with permission from Flash Points, a bulletin published
each month by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education
(CASE).

The end of an era: British public universities plan
to start charging students tuition
In what may be the biggest
shake-up to hit British higher education in 50 years, the British
government is expected to stop providing free tuition for most
students attending British public universities, which make up
the bulk of postsecondary institutions in the country. Currently,
students from the United Kingdom and elsewhere in the European
Union can attend British public universities tuition-free.

The
bipartisan Commission of Enquiry into Higher Education recommended
on July 20 that beginning in the fall of 1999, most students
from E.U. countries will be required to pay about $1,700 a year
toward tuition, a recommendation that the ruling Labour government
has said it will support. The government is also expected to
end subsidies for students' living expenses.

To help middle-class
students pay college costs, the commission has recommended that
they be allowed to take out government-backed loans of up to
$8,500 a year for tuition and living expenses. Students would
not have to begin paying off their loans until they have found
post-graduation employment.

The commission's findings, which
were well-received by Britain's higher education community, come
at a time when British universities and colleges are facing a
funding shortfall of about $585 million for fiscal year 1999
and $944 million for fiscal year 2000. At its current growth
rate, the higher education deficit in the United Kingdom would
rise to approximately $3.3 billion within 20 years. (Sources:
Academe Today, 7/22/97; Reports from CASE (Europe) staff; Committee
of Vice-Chancellors and Principals of the Universities of the
United Kingdom, 7/23/97.)

Faculty salaries decline in real terms,
reversing a three-year trend
Average academic salaries in the
United States increased by 3 percent in 1996-97, a decrease of
0.3 percent when adjusted for inflation. The American Association
of University Professor, which conducts the annual salary study,
says this decline reverses a three-year trend of growth in real
faculty salaries. Average faculty salaries for 1996-97 are $59,851
for doctoral institutions; $49,259 for comprehensive institutions;
$43,650 for baccalaureate institutions; and $43,016 for two-year
colleges.

The low increase in faculty salaries can be attributed
in part to smaller tuition increases, according to David Warren,
president of the National Association of Independent Colleges
and Universities. Tuition increases averaged 3 to 5 percent this
year. (Sources: American Association of University Professors,
7/2/97; USA Today, 7/3/97; New York Times, 7/9/97.)

Support appears
strong
for expanding campus crime
reporting requirements
A
House of Representatives subcommittee voiced support last week
for expanding the types of campus crimes that colleges must report.
If eventually passed into law, the Accuracy in Campus Crime Reporting
Act would add arson, larceny, simple assault, and vandalism to
the list of crimes for which campuses must report statistics.
Colleges would also be required to report the number of alcohol,
drugs, and weapons violations on campus, including those that
do not lead to arrests.

The act also calls for opening campus
judicial proceedings to the public. According to Academe Today,
Security of Campus, a group advocating victims' rights, warns
that if such proceedings are not made public by congressional
fiat, campuses nationwide soon may be hit by lawsuits. (Source:
Academe Today, 7/18/97.)